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Break a Lease contract

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gonzaljh

Junior Member
I live in Florida, I just lost my home due to foreclosure and I have 60 days to move out. I also have an apartment that is rented, and the lease contract ends in February 2013. Can I legally break the lease contract in order to use the apartment for my family living? Any help will be appreciated.
 


Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
A lease is a legally binding contract for BOTH the landlord and tenant. If the tenant is abiding by the lease, paying their rent on time, etc. you have no legal justification to kick them out of the rental unit.

You can, however, approach them about buying them out of lease. For example, offering to return their security deposit and pay their moving costs to move out. Keep in mind that they do not have to accept this offer.

Gail
 

sandyclaus

Senior Member
I live in Florida, I just lost my home due to foreclosure and I have 60 days to move out. I also have an apartment that is rented, and the lease contract ends in February 2013. Can I legally break the lease contract in order to use the apartment for my family living? Any help will be appreciated.
Under PTFA, it IS permissible to break the lease contract if you intend to occupy the rental unit yourself. This is the ONLY exception that allows for you to break the lease under PTFA - otherwise, you would be required to honor the existing lease until its expiration in February, 2013.

See the attached text of the law for further info: http://www.hacla.org/attachments/wysiwyg/10/PL111.22TitleVII.pdf

In order to assert this right, you would need to provide your tenants with AT LEAST 90 DAYS' ADVANCE WRITTEN NOTICE.

Keep in mind that if the tenant fails to comply with the notice you provide, you would STILL need to proceed with eviction through the courts in order to enforce your rights to recover possession and re-occupy that apartment.
 

DeenaCA

Member
Under PTFA, it IS permissible to break the lease contract if you intend to occupy the rental unit yourself. This is the ONLY exception that allows for you to break the lease under PTFA - otherwise, you would be required to honor the existing lease until its expiration in February, 2013.
If I understand correctly, the OP is a landlord who lost his/her own house to foreclosure, and also owns a rental unit under lease to a tenant. The PTFA does not give the landlord the right to break the lease in this situation.

If the OP purchased the rental unit at foreclosure and planned to move in, he/she could give 90 days notice to break the lease. But that's not how I read the post.

Renters in Foreclosure Toolkit: http://nlihc.org/library/other/foreclosure.
 

sandyclaus

Senior Member
If I understand correctly, the OP is a landlord who lost his/her own house to foreclosure, and also owns a rental unit under lease to a tenant. The PTFA does not give the landlord the right to break the lease in this situation.

If the OP purchased the rental unit at foreclosure and planned to move in, he/she could give 90 days notice to break the lease. But that's not how I read the post.

Renters in Foreclosure Toolkit: http://nlihc.org/library/other/foreclosure.
Ahhhh, ok. My mistake. That right is limited to the new owner of the foreclosed property, and NOT to an associated property owned by the displaced occupant of the foreclosed property. My bad.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.:eek:

I actually have a question for YOU, DeenaCA. Mind if I drop you a PM?
 
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elijah21

Junior Member
Hi everyone, this is elijah , i have more interest to learn about real estate leaw and i hope that i came right place to learn real estate related laws.
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
Hi everyone, this is elijah , i have more interest to learn about real estate leaw and i hope that i came right place to learn real estate related laws.
ok elijah. welcome.

read until you get some understanding where to find landlord tenant laws online, and don't post anything on threads that are older then at least a year.

Landlord tenant laws are extremely dependent on what state they are in, so that is a must have.
 

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